Tie downs failing fork seals is urban legend in my opinion. The spring takes the pressure of the tie down, not the fork seal. But I agree about not getting too carried away.

- Mark

I haul my MX bikes all the time and was always told not to overcompress the forks (the Honda manual said so too). I can see the logic, as the seals are under abnormal pressure for an extended period of time.

However...I happened to be at the BMW dealership when they uncrated my bike. When they opened the box, I was shocked to see the forks compressed all the way for shipping purposes. Geez, it came over from Germany like that and BMW has to deal with any warranty failures...so maybe there is no real problem.

+1 Canyon Dancers (the new style w/ the cups) are the way to go for securing the front end.

I've transported my bike back and forth across VA many times using these. I actually cross my straps (front to rear, rear to front) because I have a retractable bed cover, so I can't roll the bike all the way forward.

I'ts kind of hard to see in the pic, but the front straps are going to the rear tie-down and vice versa (I use the rear passenger pegs as the rear tie down point on the bike). It also doesn't put as much weight on the front or the rear suspension.

Aren't you guys with the canyon dancers worried about damaging the throttle with these? If you think about it, all the forces are transmitted through the grips. I am sure the end of motion internal stop in the throttle gets a lot of stress when the truck is bouncing. I would be worried about having to replace the throttle over time (although I'm sure they are real cheap!)

I have both types of canyon dancers and favor the Cycle Cinch Straps. I broke a turn signal button on another BMW bike with the canyon dancer putting some pressure on the buttons assembly (granted, I should have paid more attention when I tied it to avoid the fatigue point that ended up breaking the part). No such issues with Cycle Cinch.

I use a baxley sport chock in the front which stays well in place with its rubber feet on the line-x of the truck bed. And like others say, I am sensitive to not over tightening the front - most of the time it feels like the clip-ons would bend before one bottoms out. I stop cranking when trying to shake the bike starts moving the truck and not the bike.

I bought the Canyon Dancer on early recommendations to haul the bike 450 miles to home. However, the owner of the dealership advised against using any tie downs on "cast aluminum" bars of which the S is. On tubular steel or maybe billet, they are okay with him, but he has seen busted aluminum castings from grip tie-downs. He hauls up to 4 bikes a day on his trailers for service for the police bikes and knows from experience on what tying down the grips will do to castings as well as tow operators who haul bikes into his shop with busted grips once they get there. Worse one was a BMW LT where the grip snapped off and the bike arrived on the flatbed lying on its side. Driver didn't even notice it fell over and bodywork damage was extensive.

His tie-downs are the front fork above the caliper and the rear footpeg mount area on the S when he okay'ed his shop boys when they loaded my bike for the trip. In his chocks, he just uses the rear frame section and secures the front wheel into the chock.

Chok in front of the bed. Front wheel in chok, used the cloth ratchet strap extenders (with loops on both ends), wrapped them around both forks near the bottom. Used ratchet straps on each side clicked till compressed to my satisfaction. Rear, hooked ratchet straps with the double loop cloth extenders around the rear foot rests (or race hooks) and ratchet strapped down. When you stop for gas, check to make sure you're still secure.

Chok in front of the bed. Front wheel in chok, used the cloth ratchet strap extenders (with loops on both ends), wrapped them around both forks near the bottom. Used ratchet straps on each side clicked till compressed to my satisfaction. Rear, hooked ratchet straps with the double loop cloth extenders around the rear foot rests (or race hooks) and ratchet strapped down. When you stop for gas, check to make sure you're still secure.

Maybe I'm a little old school, but I have been tieing my bikes down with ratchet straps at the clip ons and backing them up with tie downs at the rear foot pegs. After 16 years of track days never had a problem with clip on braking or a fork seal or spring failing or a throttle wearing or the bike falling out of the truck or trailer.

I use the Baxley chock, as well. As it wraps the front wheel, it helps stabilize the bike. So, in the end, all I do is use my cycle cinch to stabilize the bike. I don't compress the front of the bike down much at all as the grips are fully covered and won't slip off. The main point is using the suspension on the bike to keep it there.

As for over tightening the front.. I have seen it blow out a fork seal. You have to really cinch it down.

Call me cheap but made my own front wheel chock out of wood and painted it to make it waterproof.

In addition to a couple of straps I like to run a ratcheting tiedown from one side of the rear of the bed, then wrapped around the tire and rim and back over to the opposite tiedown point in the back of the bed. Then ratcheted tight.